Anakin: Past, Present, and Future
by ArdenAshwood2
Summary: A Christmas Carolesque type of story, Anakin is visited by some of his ghosts. Who are they? And what does Anakin do when he hears the tales of what a horrid future there is to come?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to Lucas Films and so on and so forth...does anyone even READ this? 

1: Crash

Obi-Wan leaned back in his chair, turning the page of the newspaper article when a cry of alarm and a loud crash met his ears. The voice sounded like Anakin! He drew his light-saber that glowed with a bright blue light in the dimly lit living room. He threw open the door to his apprentice's bedroom and saw something quite peculiar: his Padawan was missing and yet here there was a horrendous mess. Anakin's computer had fallen to the floor (that had been the crash) and had shattered glass everywhere.

"Oh what have you gotten yourself into now, Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked the silence as he tried to keep calm. He decided to peer out of the window and saw... nothing.

"Anakin!" he called. The only response he received was the sound of buzzing air-crafts outside of the window and the gentle hum of the washing machine in the next room. "Anakin, this is not funny at all!" Obi was getting more panicked now; it was not like his Padawan to carry on a joke for this long. Also, his computer was utterly ruined now. That did not seem like something Anakin would do either.

The Jedi left in a cold sweat to go seek some advice.

A pounding knock resounded from the door to Yoda's apartment. The olden green creature slowly rose from his bed and grabbed his walking stick to go attend to whatever maniac was there at this hour of night.

"Coming, I am... Your pants on, you should keep!" He muttered in a sleepy gurgle. When he opened the door, who should he see but Master Kanobi. The alien let him in and could sense that something was very wrong.

"What is troubling you, Master Obi-Wan?" Yoda asked, gesturing for them both to have a seat on the couch to their left. As they did, the human told Yoda what he had heard and found—or rather, did not find. Yoda pondered the matter over.

"Troubling your predicament is. An immediate answer I have not. Searched the entire apartment, did you?"

"Yes," Obi lied. "Well..." he glanced down, feeling rather foolish now. "I called out to him several times," he offered.

"And does young Skywalker ever delay in answering your requests?" Yoda's eyes seemed brighter now, thinking he had found the solution. As the other Jedi blushed and stammered out that yes, Anakin wasn't always the most obedient pupil, Yoda's green chapped lips formed a smile.

"Worry I would not, until searched the whole living quarters you have."

Obi-Wan thanked Yoda for his patience and advice and let himself back out into the hallway that led to every Jedi's room(s). Of course, it all seemed so silly to him now. Anakin had meant to scare him, yet when the computer broke, he knew he had gone too far and hidden. Yes, that made sense. Still, Obi-Wan was not pleased at either the trouble his student had caused or the amount of credits that computer would cost in order to be fixed.

He reached his door and opened it, expecting to see a sulking Anakin sitting by the window with his hands wrung in his lap. Yet what he did see was so unbelievable that it took a moment to process…


	2. Chapter 2

2: Window, Mirror

"Stupid report," a young Jedi said under his breath as the last words of his homework were typed. Looking out of his window, he thought of all the fun he was missing out on by being forced to stay in this apartment. He thought of what normal teenagers would be doing right now: probably playing games, streaking about in pod-racers, climbing trees and things like that. It all seemed so unfair! Why should he, almost a Jedi Master for crying out loud, be stuck in here?

"Stupid report," Anakin said again, this time nearly slamming on the print button. It was then that a faint tapping sound met his ears. Brushing a golden lock from his face, he turned to once again peer out of his window. Once he did, a startled cry emanated from his lips and he fell out of his chair is surprise—taking his computer with him.

What he had seen was a dark man with a large black helmet and a draping black cloak. The man breathed heavily and seemed almost entirely robotic. Anakin backed away from the window, about to cry out for his Master when he was engulfed in what appeared to be a static bubble and his room disappeared.

Surrounding him now was an endless sea of darkness. He could feel nothing, hear nothing, and see nothing. When he tried to move, Anakin found that it made no difference; he could not tell between when he moved and was immobile, blinked and had his eyes wide open. In frustration, he began to writhe and grunt. He kicked and punched (or at least he thought he did). But suddenly he heard that heavy breathing again.

Anakin stopped abruptly as the monotonous sound drew closer and closer until it seemed that its source was right next to him. A tense shiver ran down his stiffened back and finally, a cold hand was placed upon his shoulder. The darkness was letting up now and Anakin found that he had been screaming for his throat was sore and his mouth was wide open when he finally regained self-awareness. The hand was definitely that of the man he had seen... yet it looked familiar. With a cold shock he realized it was identical to his own metallic hand that he had received not so many years ago.

He rose his hazel eyes and found himself staring into the dark helmet he saw outside of his window. Swallowing hard, the young Jedi spoke.

"Who are you and...and," he could not think of how to vocalize his thoughts and questions.

"And why our hands seem identical?" the man finished with a voice like velvet thunder. Anakin nodded, feeling empty and somewhat helpless. He was released of the man's tight grip and saw that the infinite black around them was now a light shade of grey. Enough for him to observe the situation very clearly. The distance between the two males was about a foot or some similar, uncomfortable distance.

The man then turned away from Anakin, crossing his arms and sighing (which sounded very odd, like a pod-racer engine finally running out of steam). Anakin instinctively reached for his light-saber when He turned back around to face him.

"Put it back, Skywalker," He said. And without any reason at all, Anakin found himself doing just that.

"How do you know my name?" Anakin added to his existing list of questions. Even though he had just meaningless obeyed the stranger, he tried to regain his dignity by speaking in as harsh and spiteful tone as he could.

"So it has begun already..." the man said softly into his black glove. Anakin did not even bother asking what that was supposed to mean.

"Skywalker, you have asked me three questions, yet I know you have many more. I will answer the first trio now." He breathed heavily, as if every sentence was using up his entire set of lungs. "Our hands appear to be the same because," breath, "they are the same. Second," breath "I know your name because," breath, "It is my name too." He let his settle while Anakin's brow furrowed. They both knew perfectly well that no two beings in the galaxy shared a name. "Thirdly, I will not tell you who I am." Breath. "But perhaps I can show you..."

Anakin's heart raced as both the grey about them turned to white and He raised his arms to remove the helmet. The Jedi could not hold back a loud scream as the face he looked into instantly connected in his mind. That burnt, hideous face with the red eyes and scars—that ugly, wrinkled puddle of flesh face... was his own. Only older; much, much older.

"Anakin Skywalker," He said with a rasping breath and a voice nothing near as mighty as it had sounded from under the helmet. "This is what you shall become."


	3. Chapter 3

3: The Dream

The older gentleman was too shocked to pull out his light-saber or do anything, frankly. On the couch, middle cushion, was a little boy probably no older than Anakin had been when he had begun to train him. Yet this was not the same Padawan—although he was shockingly similar. He was on his side, curled up in a ball with his eyes shut. Obi-Wan could not think of anything that would explain this strange child's presence and even forgot about the missing Anakin for that moment.

He did not want to scare the youngling, so he approached the couch with stealth and gently tapped on the boy's shoulder. His long eyelashes fluttered open slowly and he peered up into the Jedi's face. An excited grin of wonder swept across his face.

"Master!" he cried happily and hugged a very startled Obi-Wan around the waist. "Oh Master it's you! You are so young!" He seemed to suddenly notice something. The boy let go of Obi-Wan and examined himself. "Yet then again, so am I! Or was it all a dream, master? With Han Solo... and Darth Vader?"

The older Jedi stared blankly for a moment at this crazy boy. "I am sorry, young one," he said softly. "But I am afraid I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Master Obi-Wan!" the boy seemed let down. "Then I suppose it was a dream..."

General Kenobi did a double-take. "Excuse me, how do you know my name?"

At this the Padawan seemed most distressed. "Of course I know your name, Master!" The boy said with worry. "It's me, Luke Skywalker!" Obi-Wan was just about to escort the child out the door when the last three syllables computed with his brain. Surely Anakin had no younger brother? No, the mathematics did not figure out right for that unless this boy was one or two years old (which he surely was not).

"Skywalker, you say?" Obi asked the wide-eyed child who shook his head up and down feverishly. "Might you know your father's name?"

"Well... this might sound crazy, but all I really remember is the dream. Where you trained me to be a great Jedi, then we fought a mighty war—the mightiest war—against the Sith Lord Sidious and his apprentice Darth Vader! You said you had trained Darth Vader and—"

Once again, Obi-Wan interrupted. He had never trained any Jedi who had become a Sith apprentice and told the boy so. Luke reminded Kenobi that it was just a dream. It troubled the old Knight that he had never seen this Padawan about in the temples and yet he seemed to know all about Obi. He even asked a few trivial questions about certain ethics that he had taught Anakin and yet Luke knew the reply or corresponding statement to each one.

"Alright," Obi-Wan said resignedly. "I am going to will myself to believe you are telling the truth. Let's hear the rest of this dream and we shall see if you can possibly be who you say you are."

((INSERT ORIGINAL STAR WARS TRILOGY HERE BECAUSE NEITHER YOU NOR I WANTS ME TO TYPE SOME GAWDAWFUL SUMMARY THAT WILL PROBABLY INCLUDE ME FORGETTING HALF OF THE STORY-LINE AND SPELLING NAMES WRONG))

Master Kenobi listened intently, his hand running across his fuzzy beard. His bright blue eyes were fixed on Luke's. This dream seemed like none he had ever had or heard about before. The emotion Luke expressed at each moment of climax, tragedy, and joy even began to rub off on Obi by the time the tale was finished. At this point, all doubt of the boy's sincerity had vanished from the Master Jedi's mind.

"You are sure that I had trained this Darth Vader?" Obi-Wan asked with a gnawing dread in his heart.

"Oh yes," Luke said without appearing to think it mattered much.

"Then that must mean..." _Anakin._


	4. Chapter 4

4: Terrible Misunderstandings

"You're lying," was Anakin's first response to the man in black. "How can you and I be the same person? I do not believe in ghosts, yet I do believe in crazy old men," he drew his light-saber (he'd draw it all day long too, whether this freak told him to put it away or not!).

Again came the sigh, now sounding a bit more human-like. The man placed his helmet by his feet, a silver floor now fading slowly into their reality. He took out his light-saber and batted Anakin's away as the young Jedi flung towards him. When Skywalker crashed his weapon down at an angle at His head, He simply swatted it back as a lazy child would a pesky fly. The man looked like he had no wish to engage in any confrontation, which made Anakin want Him to suffer more. He could not understand this new feeling inside of him, a desire to cause as much pain and humiliation as he possibly could. He had never felt this way before in his life (or at least, to such a strong degree). Yet it gave him focus and he found his opponent's defenses becoming more urgent and quicker-reflexed. He did not know what was happening, but he did know that he could not stop it now.

"Anakin," the man spoke as loudly as his withered voice could over the clanging of light-sabers. The attacks did not stop. "Anakin, do you want me to chop off the arm Dooku left for you?"

The young man ceased in his assault and wiped a bead of sweat from his face. "What did you say, you half-witted prune?" The man clutched a hand to his chest and coughed wetly. When the fit stopped, his watery hazel eyes that reminded Anakin so much of his own began to cry.

"I am too late, it seems, Anakin," he said. "I tried... I gathered up my last remaining strength to bring you here to this space where we could be truly alone yet I was too late. I shall send—" He coughed again. "Another to help guide you."

About to protest, Anakin watched as the man before him vanished from sight and a sickly sourness filled his mouth. His surrounding was gaining detail, finally beginning to reach a friendly familiarity; what he saw next was his own living room with Obi-Wan's back facing him. His head was spinning and his light-saber was still out before him. A young boy's cry resounded from somewhere out of Anakin's sight and Obi-Wan bolted around.

"I told you he was a Sith apprentice!" the boy called, horrified.

"What?" Anakin exploded, but before he could fully get the exclamation past his lips, he found himself staring into the savage face of his master, their light-sabers meetings. "Master," he began chokingly, not knowing what in the Force was going on. He dared not put down his weapon, for he did not know what was possessing Obi-Wan now.

"You have been training in the Dark Side?" His master said in a tone that frightened Anakin. It was one he used generally with heinous enemies about to be torn to pieces by the older Jedi.

"No," he said softly, shaking his head and for the first time seeing the other boy who was sitting on the couch watching intently. "Obi-Wan you must believe me, I have done no such thing!" His voice cracked as he strained to keep the other light-saber off of his neck.

"Throw away your weapon, Anakin!" Kenobi barked, as if issuing a dare.

"Will you kill me if I do, Master?" he said, not knowing if he could keep this up much longer.

"We shall see."

He finally gave up, tossing the light-saber to the carpet and kneeling before Obi-Wan, ready and waiting for whatever fate might befall him. The little boy finally stood up and approached the two of them, bending down to be at eye-level with Anakin. Their gazes met and it was an exchange of hatred and wanting to understand that passed between them. If Luke's dream had been a reality, then this man before him had to be destroyed. Yet perhaps there was something to be done? Some knowledge to be gained in preventing the grotesque future. As for Anakin, he despised this brat for turning his master against him yet wondered who he was and what he was doing here... and why he looked so familiar. _I have sent another to guide you..._ The man in black's last words echoed in Anakin's ears.

"Anakin I believe you," Obi-Wan said at last, yet not quite putting away his light-saber. "If you truly were a Sith apprentice, you would have stopped at nothing in trying to kill me. Yet I must ask where were you tonight and why you appeared out of nowhere with your weapon drawn!"

So with a veil-like confusion over his mind, Anakin recited the evening's happenings sounding more crazy to himself with every word. Yet, like he did with Luke, Obi-Wan seemed to be listening closely and passing no judgment.


	5. Chapter 5

5: Another Trip to Yoda's

Imagine, for a moment, that you had been doing your homework. You hear something like a bird at your window but then see this person who looks like he should belong somewhere is a horror-hologram. He then takes you to a different dimension and not only is he ugly and old, he's you. Then, he tells you it is too late and sends you back to your own world where your best friend in the whole universe tries to kill you, accusing you of being the right-hand man to the most evil of beings. After narrowly escaping, you realize that this kid in your house is your son from the future telling you how you had become the infamous ruler of the galaxy.

That was how Anakin felt right now, sitting with an unusual distance between himself and Obi-Wan. The whole light-saber event still had him thoroughly shaken up, as did the dark prophecy about him. While Luke looked eight or nine, he was using the ideology and vocabulary of a twenty-year-old, making his claims about the future more believable and frightening to Anakin. The youngling had apologized for having to be the one to break this news to him, yet Obi-Wan assured him that it was a blessing he did.

"I think we will be paying another visit to Yoda," the older Jedi told his two Padawans. They both nodded (the younger one with such excitement that his other mentor was still alive and he would have another chance to speak with him) and rose to their feet. Obi herded them out the door and into the hallway until they were again at room 266. Obi-Wan knocked a bit less frantically than before.

Yoda opened the door with a smile upon seeing Anakin. "Found him, you have?"

"Oh yes," Obi-Wan said. "But it seems I have found another Skywalker too."

The green elder's face showed no change in expression as Luke stepped out in front of his Master. Yoda felt a strong surge of the Force coming from this boy. It was much like how he had felt when introduced to Anakin for the first time, yet it put him at ease (whereas with the first Skywalker, he could never help but feel a trifle on-edge when he was around him).

"Son of Anakin, you are," Yoda said calmly with a playful smirk at the aforementioned Jedi. "Doing things he should not, young Skywalker has been. Yet mind I do not, for brought he has the true Chosen One."

Anakin felt his blood heat at the sound of this. So far this brat had brought nothing but trouble; an attack by Obi-Wan, disrespect from Yoda, and soon he would probably be expelled from the Jedi allegiance now that someone knew about his... activities. That feeling was there again. The urge to strike the boy over the head, watch his life end, and know it had been because of him that it had ended. He shuddered, remembering the sinister future Luke had spoken of and wondered if the man in black had been right and it was too late after all.

"Come in, all of you," Yoda said, turning to head back into his apartment and once again take his seat on the couch. Obi-Wan followed suit, Anakin and Luke right behind him. The two Skywalkers sat on the floor in front of their master while they were both in turn asked to repeat their accounts. At the part of Anakin's tale when the man—Vader, he probably now should be called—told him that that was what he would become, Yoda's eyes grew dark. For a long time, he had suspected Anakin's weakness for power, but this solidified his distrust.

"A terrible set of tales you tell, young Skywalkers. Know what to do, I do not. Any thoughts have you, Master Kenobi?"

Oh yes, he had thoughts. The older man had sat in morose silence, ruing this day and longing for himself to wake up in his bed with a sigh of relief, knowing it had all been just a silly nightmare. Yet he was quite awake, and quite out of ideas as well. The most obvious solution would be to kill Anakin, yet he knew that even if it meant the end of all things, he could not do that himself. Another plan would be to keep the young Jedi in solitude for the rest of his life... but how would they keep that up?

Obi-Wan shook his head, taking a long and searching look at his older apprentice. His curly haired-head was down and his palms were facing up from inside his lap. Obi-Wan found no expression on that face and whether that was bad or good he could not say. Next he looked at Luke. The boy was looking at his father with eyes of sadness and regret.

"Very well," the green one sighed. "Meditate we must in order to find an answer to our problem."

So that they did, silent as the grave and almost as cheery.


	6. Chapter 6

6: Closing Stages

After about an hour of sitting cross-legged on the couch and floor, the three humans heard Yoda grunt in a surprised and yet somewhat pleased tone. They all turned to him and saw his eyes were open, as were his lips, as if he were ready to speak yet could not exactly figure out how to phrase it best. Anakin looked back down nervously, wondering what doom would ensue. He could just picture it now, Yoda telling Obi-Wan that he should be killed, all three of his friends turning against him with their light-sabers drawn... all because of this idiotic child. He found himself believing Luke's story less and less as the tension mounted inside of him. What reason would he have for joining the dark side? Padme wasn't even pregnant! And that was another thing, Luke hadn't even mentioned Padme, but Anakin knew he would never bear to be without her. He would do anything to be with her forever—anything at all.

"Take a pilgrimage, young Skywalker must," Yoda said to Obi-Wan. "Search himself for weakness and sort them out, is necessary for his reunion with the light side of the Force."

Pilgrimage? Away from Obi-Wan and his home? Another thought thudded in his stomach like a lead ball. _Away from Padme._ He suppressed a gasp and saw that both Luke and Obi-Wan were nodding solemnly. Oh, that brat thought he was wise now, did he? Mimicking his master seemed very noble indeed, leaving Anakin to be the odd one out once again. Is that was this bastard was up to? Yes, that was it. A shroud of darkness soon glazed Anakin's eyes as he realized what this Luke was truly attempting to do: he wanted Anakin out of the way so he could have Padme and Obi-Wan all to himself! As for his cock and bull story, he was sure that was all rubbish anyway. The older Skywalker assured himself that the imposter was not going to get away with this.

"Do you agree to this, Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked, a look of attempted worry on his face. The younger Jedi knew it was fake now; this whole thing was a setup, of that he was sure.

He took in a deep, shuddering breath, staring his master right in the eyes. "I do not."

Obi-Wan felt himself go cold at the look in his apprentice's stare while the response was given. It was not much the answer as how it was said—full of enmity that he had never heard Anakin express. His shoulders drooped as he looked to Yoda.

"Perhaps Anakin and I could go off on our own for a little while. Make the pilgrimage together?"

The young Jedi looked hopefully to the olden advisor who nodded shortly after. "Work that might. My approval, have you."

So it was settled. Obi-Wan and Anakin were to set off for a remote planet in a few days and Luke was to stay with Master Yoda. The morning they were to leave, the son of Anakin was invited into their abode by his father. The darkness swallowed them with pointed teeth—for Luke could immediately sense a bitter energy in the silence. No lights were turned on in Anakin's room when he ushered his son inside of it. Before the small boy could react, his father's robotic hand was wrapped around his neck and the darkness was given light by the inside of his eyelids. He winced but found he could not cry out, Vader's fingers digging into his throat while he was lifted off of his feet.

A light-saber would have been too easy, Anakin thought while the child squirmed in his grasp. This was much more personal; much more satisfying. What enjoyment could he get out of it if the youngling was not to suffer? This was not weakness, as Yoda had called it. The dark side was in fact the very opposite; it was the Jedi who were too weak to seek out true power and seize it for their own. This only he and Chancellor Palpatine seemed to realize. For as frail as the Jedi were, with it also came dimness.

"Goodbye—" Luke whimpered in an airless voice, before he went limp in the air. Anakin knew to not let go until a few more minutes had passed. For one of two things might happen if he did so immediately; oxygen took at least fifty seconds to thoroughly leave the body when the person was killed in this fashion, or more probable, the kid might be faking it. Sure enough, about half a minute later the body gave one last jerk and at last was rendered inert.

Anakin grinned in the dark, but then felt something very strange indeed. The dead weight that should have hung from his hand was nothing! He might as well have strangled a feather, for when he reached out with his other hand, there was nobody there.

Shaking his head, he turned on the light switch to see if perhaps he had dropped Luke in his excitement. Yet no child was there to be found. Only a faint glimmering of light where the boy had hung only a moment before. Like the man in black, Luke Skywalker was now gone. ((Back to his own world, we are to assume))


	7. Chapter 7

7: End

Anakin crept into his master's room with the force thumping and pulsing through him louder than his own heartbeat. He knew that his anger made him stronger, but he could only hope it would provide him with strength enough for this final step in the conclusion of the week's affairs.

Without waking his snoring master, Anakin waved a hand over his shut eyes and told him:

"The events that took place from last week to this morning never occurred. You dreamt them all up and shall train me as usual today." Slowly, the elder Jedi murmured back that yes, of course he had dreamt those things, training would carry on normally today. Satisfied, Anakin now focused on the harder task he had to perform. How difficult would it be to erase Yoda's memory? Would he be asleep now, would he suspect it?

The Jedi opened the door out into the hallway and traveled down the corridor, opening door 266 with a gently push of the Force. He saw Yoda sitting cross-legged facing the open window where a pink sun was just beginning to rise. He stopped cold, surely the alien would sense him! However, for the moment Anakin was undetected. Skywalker remembered that some Jedi could meditate so intensely that it was deeper than sleep. He thought of just how much harder it would be to "push" him then ((note: "push" is a Stephen King reference from Firestarter, which you all should read. It means, mentally willing something or persuading someone)).

He stepped in front of Yoda, using the Force to make his presence as unnoticeable as he could. It seemed to work, for when he pushed, Yoda agreed that none of it had happened as easily as Obi-Wan had. He agreed that he would continue to meditate for another hour after Anakin had left.

Once back in his own room, Anakin gave a tired sigh. Only one more part left to do. He extended his hand over his eyes and told himself sternly that there had never been a boy named Luke, a man called Darth Vader, or any talk of the dark side. Suddenly, he found himself waking up on his floor, the bright sunlight in his face while Obi-Wan gently shook him awake.

"Come, Padawan, time to wake up. Did I have a crazy dream!"


End file.
